Hosting Company questions

[Shole]

So I am curious about creating a server, but I am not sure what I would need for that. I don't want to buy servers or something like that online, I want to get a PC and create a server on it, but I am not that good at knowing the requirements.
What do you think a good server pc should have (system/hardware wise) so that it could host around 100 sites?

 

[michaelswengel]

What kind of sites would you be hosting? The requirements for a basic HTML page and a full scripted experience would be hugely different.

It wouldn't be cheap up front though.

 

[RDO Servers]

A PC and a server have mostly the same components. (Motherboard, CPU, RAM, drives, etc). The difference is a server will have components that are made to handle the work they are built to perform.

I.e., a server should use a Xeon processor, ECC registered RAM, enterprise grade drives, and have a hardware RAID controller.

Servers also typically have redundant power supply and NIC's (and of course RAID drives) so that the server can stay online dispute a hardware failure.

One question.
What are you going to do with the server once you build it?

Please do not try to host other websites from your house!!!
To host websites, your server will need to be in a data center with redundant power feeds and multiple transit lines. Anything less and your asking for trouble and upset customers!

 

[Shole]

Shole

I see, so what about Game Servers? Would that be okay for a home variant?

This is the thing, the hosting niche is one of those evergreens and I would like to take part of the earnings of it. Yes I know it will be hard. So would a Game Server host work from my home?

I have a pc with an average build so far, I could upgrade it to a beast (in a few months when I get more money tho) and host game servers from it or at least try to. It's a shame to just leave it there and besides my internet is great and I can upgrade it for cheap.

 

[ElixantTechnology]

ElixantTechnology

It is *never* recommended that you host anything out of your own home. I want to be very clear about this, 99.99% of Internet Service Providers have in the contractual Terms of Service agreement a notice stating that you are not permitted to run ANY kind of server of of their network(s). That being said, if you are running a Game server you want to utilize a network that has minimal to no packet loss as well as procedures in place to protect the network from inbound attacks such as DDoS.

Lets say that you set up a game hosting service on a home computer, these services are the most prone to DDoS attacks by script kiddies. Now, someone launches a DDoS attack on your home IP. Because your ISPs infractructure wasn't built to handle these attacks, your entire neighborhood is without internet due to your lack of caution. So your ISP now goes through the logs and finds the IP attacked was assigned to your modem at the time of the attack, now your internet is disconnected and you will never be able to get services from said ISP again. Worst of all, if there's someone operating a business in your area that loses money due to this, you might just be sitting at the tail end of a lawsuit.

Moral of the story, spend the money.. We all have to do it, as a provide your need to consider that to make money you are going to have to spend money. Lots of it.

 

[RDO Servers]

The main difference in game servers is you would want a i7 processor with a faster clock speed.

Will you leave it online and let your friends use it, or do you want to see game server space to the public?

If it is for anyone other then you and your friends, hosting it at your house is still a bad idea.

a) lack of redundant power
b) lack of redundant internet uplink
C) consumer grade dsl modem/router
d) you may have good upload speeds, but probably have a poor download speed

 

[michaelswengel]

Your ISP may not like you hosting anything out of your own home. It depends on which company you use of course. And as was said previously, without backup power and redundant systems, you're just asking for unhappy customers or users.

I know Comcast / Xfinity limits any given customer's downloads to 300(?) GB per month. There are business plans of course. But a home environment is not ideal for a hosting company - for websites or for games.

If you're interested in selling hosting, there are companies that offer reseller programs. Essentially you rent the equipment and sell hosting without the risk of failing equipment in your own home.

 

[LowEndXeon]

A knowledge of linux, helps. Because it's one of the most effective systems to use to run hosting software. EG cPanel & SolusVM.